Point of care ultrasound (POCUS)

Point of care ultrasound (POCUS or PoCUS) is a rapidly growing development in the use of ultrasound in medicine.

As ultrasound systems become smaller and more portable it much easier to bring the ultrasound system to the patient rather than bringing the patient to the ultrasound department.

POCUS employs very small ultrasound systems (often hand-held devices) that can be used wherever the patient happens to be. This means that ultrasound can be used at the patient bedside or even at sites outside of the hospital such as accident sites, other injury sites, or even in the ambulance or the helicopter on the way back to the hospital.

POCUS can be used as a diagnostic tool similar to the way in which a conventional ultrasound system is used, or can be used as a guidance tool to assist with the placement of catheters, nerve blocks, or other interventional procedures.

POCUS devices are small, portable, and increasingly inexpensive. They have been used by ER physicians for several years, but are now rapidly expanding into many other areas of medicine. Indeed, many medical schools are now incorporating POCUS as part of the standard medical school curriculum. Expect to see more and more of these "21st century stethoscopes" in day-to-day medical practice. The major challenge will be to ensure that all these new users are well-trained and able to make sound choices from what they are seeing on their screens.

As an example of a small, inexpensive POCUS device, check out the iQ Butterfly system here.

Most established ultrasound vendors now make POCUS systems. Examples are GE's Vscan, Philips Lumify, Sonosite's iVIZ, or the Siemens Freestyle